[A Conservative Teacher] Using Executive Agencies to Target Political Enemies is Illegal

[A Conservative Teacher]

Although I am no lawyer, I can't imagine that using executive agencies like the IRS to target and harass political enemies of the administration is legal. And if it isn't legal to as a matter of policy known at the top levels and low levels of the IRS to target tea party groups and conservative organizations and Republican donors for audits and bureaucratic harassment, then people should be put in jail and elected or appointed officials who knew of what was going on should be impeached and put in jail too for engaging in illegal behavior.

This isn't a 'scandal' made up by the media here- this is real misuse of power and government resources of the sort that tyrannical and despotic governments engage in. If a Republican President were power or if the groups who were targeted were Democrats and communists, I'd feel the exact same way- they should go to jail. We're not talking about a President hiring/firing at-will employees based on their political beliefs as is within his right to do- this is the Internal Revenue Service targeting for harassment and possible criminal penalties groups which are politically opposed to President Obama and the Democrats. Their actions are illegal, and those who ordered, knew about, or covered up their actions should go to jail.

This is a serious breach here folks. As the Washington Post states it in their editorial Playing politics with tax records:

...A BEDROCK principle of U.S. democracy is that the coercive powers of government are never used for partisan purpose. The law is blind to political viewpoint, and so are its enforcers, most especially the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. Any violation of this principle threatens the trust and the voluntary cooperation of citizens upon which this democracy depends.

So it was appalling to learn Friday that the IRS had improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny. It was almost as disturbing that President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew have not personally apologized to the American people and promised a full investigation...

It isn't appalling- it has to be illegal and against the law to use the IRS to harass and punish those who have different political beliefs as the administration. It has to be against the law, and before the law all men are equal, and that means that if Democrats or liberals or Republicans or conservatives aided or abetted in these illegal actions they should be fired, fined, and sent to jail. Violation of bedrock principles and inequality before the law and misuse of government power and misuse of taxpayer resources are all offenses that are very very bad. Jail time should follow.

William A. Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection makes the following additional but very important points which I have expanded on and elaborated on-

• You’re not paranoid, they really do hate you. At the highest levels. All your conspiracy theories regarding the administration using federal agencies to target and attack and criminalize their political enemies are correct and true.
• The IRS is the Obamacare enforcer. And if they have a history and tradition of using their powers to selectively attack only conservative, tea-party, libertarian, and Republican groups in an illegal fashion, look out when their power expands drastically under Obamacare (note- Gary Peters voted for this legislation).
• The Chief Counsel of the IRS knew about what was going on, and during an election year in which President Obama narrowly retained power he authorized the expansion of this political and illegal program to target groups educating people on the Constitution and Bill of Rights. That is the target of the government's harassment and attacks- those who educate on our political system, limited government, basic freedoms and liberty, and rule of law. You are now the enemies of the state, my friends- it is now true that being conservative or supporting the Constitution makes you a target by the Obama administration as it illegally abuses its power in a tyrannical and despotic manner.
  
• Recall that Homeland Security as a matter of policy also targeted conservative groups and tea party groups as potential threats, and now we learn that the IRS was too... if several agencies are all implement policies that illegally and unconstitutionally target the political enemies of the Democrats, it is probably a matter of practice and policy directed from the top levels and not just random coincidences.
• Obama owns this. He is the President. The IRS is under his direction. These policies began in 2011, continued in 2012, and were only exposed and ended (yeah, right) in 2013. All of this is President Obama. He owns this. He either fires and jails the head of the IRS and everyone in the organization who knew or supported these policies or he should be impeached.

As Joe Biden said, this is a big f'ing deal. And to the IRS agent reading this post I say "Sic semper evello mortem Tyrannis".

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Posted By A Conservative Teacher to A Conservative Teacher at 5/13/2013 12:30:00 AM